…….. and humanity bleeds amid unconcern and indifference of the world
Suu Kyi should not only condemn the killings and ethnic cleansing unequivocally but use her authority to prevent this shameful situation.
Having many problems in and around this part of the subcontinent the suffering of more than a million Rohingya in Rakhine province of Myanmar was negligible until the oppression turned into well-planned state-sponsored ethnic cleansing involving plunder and gruesome killings. Rohingya’s have a long history of migration, settlement in Burma’s coastal province of Rakhine (formerly Arakan) with a glorious past of being influential and patronized by the British empire. The Burmese people and the state always treated Rohingya people outsiders—Bengalis and never acknowledges them as part of the Arakan region where from the group’s name—Rohingya originates. The unfortunate part of the Rohingyas is that the majority of them are Muslims, a very small number being Hindus.
After its independence in 1948 the Burmese military dictators in 1962 onwards, in addition to doing damage to prospects of popular rule in Burma adopted a tough stand in Rakhine province against the Rohingya. Orchestrating a regular ethnic isolation and systematic persecution the military junta slowly but steadily devised a roadmap for a gradual ethnic cleansing of Rohingya. The military power deprived the Rohingya of their citizenship rights and several other basic privileges a human being is entitled to in a civilized society. And today the Myanmar’s systematically planned carnage has completely dehumanized the Rohingya people to the extent that it brings shame to whole humankind on the planet earth. The unfortunate part of hounding of Rohingya is that a noble laureate honoured for peace is part of this discrimination as she holds a key position (State Counsellor, almost equivalent to Prime Minister) in the Myanmar government. The government that is not only encouraging plunder and brutal killing of Rohingya but are hand in glove with the Buddhist killers. The same Buddhists for whom Buddha shun every comfort of his luxurious life to preach peace and nonviolence. Killers cannot be and should not be related to any religion, but unfortunately, at present, the instigators of brutal killings in Myanmar proudly identify themselves with Buddhism and roam around wearing the sacred Buddhist robes. However, we should appreciate prominent Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s statement about Myanmar and Rohingya. Though belated, a bold statement from Dalia Lama condemning the violence and harassment of Rohingya; specifically mentioning the pain and anguish he felt with such incidents in Myanmar makes it clear that the ethnic cleansing has no approval from millions and millions of Buddhists world over outside the Myanmar.
In the present situation of absolute persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar the onus lies on the National League for Democracy (NDL) founder Aung San Suu Kyi who is part of the government that is supporting and abetting the crime against the Rohingya to clear her stand. She should not only condemn the killings and ethnic cleansing unequivocally but use her authority to prevent this shameful situation. Unfortunately, few days back in a write-up in The Hindustan Times titled ‘Blaming Suu Kyi will not end the Rohingya crisis’ the learned writer Nehginpao Kipgen an expert on Southeast Asian studies brazenly tried to bail out and absolve Suu Kyi of large-scale killings of Rohingya by writing “The de-facto leader of the National League for Democracy government, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been singled out. This is unjustified—— many don’t seem to realise that Suu Kyi is no longer an activist or human-rights advocate. Many also fail to understand that Suu Kyi, like many other politicians, wants to stay in power for now and in the foreseeable future, which necessitates her to take into account the sentiments of majority voters”. Rohingya crisis will end overnight only if the government of Myanmar intends to do justice to every human being on its soil irrespective of colour and creed and Suu Kyi is not only part but a de- facto head of that government run by her party NLD. Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1991 did not repose its trust for peace in Aung San Suu Kyi that she will end abetting and justifying large-scale ethnic killings and cleansing just to appease the majority of her voters and stay in power. This kind of vague argument is not going to help the mankind and peace in this world, particularly in the region. Any world forum or leaders interested to intervene in the humanitarian crisis of Myanmar has to approach through Suu Kyi and if she prefers her political constituency over peace and humanity then nothing is going to happen for the best of unfortunate Rohingya. And the Noble peace prize losing its glitter will become irrelevant.